When a farmer named Wilson Karisa from a small village on the coast of Kenya earns $20 growing and selling eggplant, it doesn’t seem like a big deal. But it’s a huge deal to Wilson Karisa. That $20 made it possible for him to open a savings account for the first time, deposit $13 of his hard-earned cash, and invest the other $7 in his future—vegetable seeds and pesticide to grow more crops.

In Kenya, where the average annual income is $1,600 and the unemployment rate is 40 percent, every penny counts. Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) , a member of Global Impact’s charity alliance , is working with people like Wilson Karisa in Palakumi, Kenya, to ease hunger and poverty by building community participation.

CRWRC-Kenya consultant Stephan Lutz says there is more to community participation than asking people to do things like build their own livestock enclosure or pay to rent an ox to plow their fields. “Participation means that community members are responsible to make the decisions that guide their projects: they plan their projects, implement, manage, monitor, and most important—take control of them.”

Why is community participation so important in CRWRC’s work? When the decisions that affect a community are made by all of its members—not by an outside organization or donors—the community becomes responsible for the project’s outcome and will work hard toward their own success!

“Not only are community participation and ownership vital to the success of CRWRC programs, they also create results that are sustainable—not by CRWRC, but by the community itself. Unfortunately, there are many other programs that are far from being effective or sustainable,” Lutz says.

He stated that it isn’t easy to understand why when there are years of expert evidence to the contrary. “I think it all comes down to a lack of patience, understanding, time, and flexibility with communities and partners,” Lutz says. “A great example of how CRWRC gets it right is Pwani Christian Community Services in the Ganze area of Kenya, where Wilson Karisa lives.”

Community members in Palakumi developed their own vision for food security in their village, by setting a goal of having enough well-balanced food throughout the year—and some surplus to sell for income.

“Pwani CCS helped the people of Palakumi through Farmer Field Schools,” Lutz explains. “The farmers use participatory methodologies to come up with technologies that work in their particular area. The process makes the farmers the experts.”

Participants conducted controlled testing of unique techniques to develop a best practice that could be used on all farms. For instance, farmers used six test plots and employed techniques like deep tillage with manure. After comparing results, the farmers adopted the best performing treatment for continued applications on their individual farms. The Palakumi farmers are growing corn, eggplant, tomatoes, and kale in their demonstration plots for learning and income.

Did the people of Palakumi achieve their goal of better food security? “Yes, they have,” Lutz says. “Wilson Karisa and the other farmers in Palakumi have varied their crops to better meet their family’s dietary needs, and they have enough food to sell the surplus.”

Lutz says that CRWRC, “is dedicated to continuing to evaluate our strategies and prioritize on what is most important for the very people we would like to help. Genuinely allowing communities to share their voices, and acquire organizational and management skills to structure themselves, is always great starting point.”